Moving to Vietnam with my kids
It’s been a while since I have written a post! I have been a little distracted with moving our family from Australia to Vietnam last month. We’ve been in Vietnam now for just over 3 weeks and I have to say, I am really loving it and blessed to have such an amazing skyline to wake up to. The contrast between rice paddies, undeveloped grass fields and sky high buildings is incredible. It never gets boring. I witnessed the most incredible sunset from our window while we were having dinner at home. We have a view of the Saigon river which flows from Cambodia, through south Vietnam and merges into the South China Sea near the Mekong Delta.
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| The most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen. Saigon River, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (taken on iPhone) |
I left Vietnam as a 6 month old baby and have lived in Australia all my life. Moving to a developing country, with 3 kids (currently aged 10, 6 & 2) was a little daunting. Even though I have basic language skills and relatives still living in Vietnam, my 6yo’s nut allergy was something that I was concerned about. You cannot buy epipens in Vietnam at this time. Nut allergies are almost unheard of over here, so it’s hard for locals to understand the difference between not wanting nuts and not being able to eat nuts. Even so, it has been pretty good so far 🙂
I was happy to see the growing market in organic produce. Many of the larger stores offer safe veggies grown locally without the use of chemicals (Rao Sach or Rao An Toan) and even the locals are also choosing to purchase in the larger supermarkets where the produce is labelled. Organikvn.com have their own farm in Da lat and a retail store in District 2, HCMC. They offer free local delivery, you can call or email in the morning and receive you order within an hour or 2. Everything is reasonably priced and the freshness and quality of the produce is excellent. This is something I am really enjoying!!!
So what did I pack for this move? We tried to keep our move simple, leaving our furniture behind and we took mostly our summer wardrobe and a few essentials we wanted to make sure we had in case we couldn’t find in Vietnam. I ordered 3 boxes of Body Ecology Veggie Culture starter and put it in a cooler bag with an ice pack, that should last me a year. I also packed up a Kombucha SCOBY and starter tea and put that in my luggage. A few other kitchen items included my spiraliser, my magic bullet, my knife set, mandolin, measuring cups and a few other little gadgets. So naturally one of the first things I did when we got here was make a batch of fermented veggies, which turned out to be a good thing as I ended up with a tummy bug and it has helped me get through it. We have visited Vietnam many times before and I have never been sick, unfortunately bad luck this time!
